Reed Richards (Earth-616)/Expanded History/Year Five
Go Back to Year Four __TOC__ Possessed by the Molecule Man The Fantastic Four returned home to find that the Baxter Building had been invaded by Klaw and the Molecule Man who were trying to seize control of the Psi-Magnifier so the Molecule Man could obtain a permanent body. The Fantastic Four succeeded in defeating their foes, freeing former boxer Aaron Stankey from the Molecule Man's control. In the aftermath of the battle Reed foolishly grabbed the wand containing the Molecule Man's essence. This allowed the villain to take control of his body. The Molecule Man then went on a rampage of New York City in Reed's body while Reed fought in vain to regain control. After a prolonged battle against the Fantastic Four, the Molecule Man tried to use his powers against them directly. However, the Unstable Molecules that their costumes were comprised of proved too difficult for the Molecule Man to control and the feedback caused him to release Reed from his control. In the aftermath of the battle, Reed realized that without powers he was a liability to the Fantastic Four and decided to disband the team for good. With nobody offering protests it seemed as though the world's greatest heroes had finally met their end. Disbanding the Team Even though he had called an end to the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards briefly helped scientist Peter Corbeau examine strange blinks in reality. Unknown them at the time they were caused by the M'Kraan Crystal, until the threat was secretly ended by the X-Men. With the group officially disbanding, Reed contacted SHIELD so that they could gather up all his scientific equipment and safely store it. Saying his goodbyes to the rest of the team, Reed stayed behind to oversee what he though was the SHIELD recovery job. As it turned out, the villain known as Plunderer and his minions were posing as SHIELD agents to steal Reed's inventions. Reed managed to call his team back together and the Fantastic Four worked together one more time to stop this theft. Although they worked well together to defeat the Plunderer and his minions, Reed still insisted that the team was done and they still broke up. This news was a delight to Walter Collins who was finally getting rid of his problematic tenants. Cynthian Associates While Johnny and Ben went their own ways, Reed and Sue moved temporarily into a hotel room in New York. There Reed began looking to put his skills to work in a real job. His search proved short lived when he was approached by Cynthian Associates who were seeking to hire him. While Reed took the job with and relocated to their labs in upstate New York, while Sue decided to restart her career in acting and took Franklin with her to Hollywood. When Sue tried to keep in touch with her husband she found it impossible to contact him. Reed himself tried to contact his wife, but his mysterious employer ensured that phone calls did not leave the research facility forcing Reed to focus on his work. As it turned out, Reed's employer was a man who claimed to be the son of Victor von Doom. Victor von Doom the 2nd then brainwashed Reed to act as his pawn. Forced to wear the Invincible Man costume, Reed was sent to Hollywood where he captured his wife and teammates. Taken back to the Cynthian Associates headquarters, Doom the 2nd showed Reed his creation: a solar power generator, which can drive those who peer into its reflective surfaces completely insane. While Reed was being shown this device Sue and the others broke free only to be incapacitated by the real Doctor Doom. Restoration of Powers and Team Claiming that he was retiring as ruler of Latveria, Doom sought ultimate revenge against the Fantastic Four before stepping down and relinquishing his throne to his "son". Having constructed a spacecraft, they sent Reed into space in a ship that would recreate the very accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Doom's motivation was to destroy his long-time foe at the height of his powers. Sure enough, Reed was bombarded with cosmic rays in just the same way as before and his powers were not only restored to their peak but, made stronger than ever before. The cosmic ray bath also caused the Red Ghost—who had been disintegrated in a battle with Iron Man earlier—to reform aboard the ship. The two battled it out until the Ghost fled. Reed narrowly avoided a deadly crash landing and was recovered by SHIELD. Freed, Reed was determined to rescue his family and stop Doom once and for all. The Red Ghost battled Iron Man in - . Infiltrating the nation of Latveria Reed crossed paths with Zorba Fortunov, the last surviving member of Latveria's former monarchy. Zorba was leading a rebellion to overthrow Doom. Reed learned that "Victor von Doom the Second" was actually a clone of Doom, which Victor was going to use as a puppet ruler to take his place. When Reed stormed the castle he was captured and placed in a device along with his teammates. The device then began transferring the powers of the Fantastic Four to the Doom clone. Doom's plans began to fall apart as Zorba began his rebellion and his clone had a change of heart and turned on his master. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four broke free and arrived to just in time to watch Doom kill his clone in battle. When Doom fled to the United States Reed sent his team to stop a mind control device hidden in a statue of Doom from being delivered to the United Nations. Reed then followed Doom to his American castle in the Adirondack Mountains. The ensuing battle took them into the chamber where the solar collector was located. There Reed forcibly removed Doom's mask and forced him to stare into the reflective surfaces the device driving Victor insane. Slumped into a catatonic state Von Doom was turned over to Zorba who had seized control of Latveria promising to turn the country into a democracy. Although Doctor Doom was rendered in sane in his sanity was later restored in . Return to the Baxter Building After the Fantastic Four returned to the United States, Reed and the rest of the team soon got involved in a disastrous low budget Hollywood film based on their adventures. They were soon called to aid the Inhumans once again by Crystal whose people were a prisoner of the Sphinx. With the aid of the Fantastic Four, Crystal freed her people and prevented the Sphinx from utilizing their bodies for ultimate power. Returning to New York to look for a new headquarters, the Fantastic Four soon began investigating a series of disappearance involving the blind and the deformed, but only after Alicia was kidnapped. They discovered that they were all being held by the Mole Man who—in his own misguided way—was trying to create a home for outcasts like himself. After a brief battle, the Fantastic Four discovered that some of the people wanted to stay in Subterranea with the Mole Man. Agreeing to return sculptures that he had also stolen, the Mole Man released those he kept in Subterranea against their will. Eventually, the Fantastic Four were able to rent out the Baxter Building again. This was due to the fact that Walter Collins could not find new tenants and grudgingly allowed the group to renew their lease. After restoring all his equipment Reed and the others were attacked by the building's various automated defenses but were able to quell them. Later the Fantastic Four were attacked by the Avenger known as the Vision, who had been manipulated into attacking the group by the Mad Thinker and Klaw. Although the two villains seemingly succeeded the Vision turned on them and they were defeated. Soon the upper half of the Baxter Building containing the Fantastic Four's headquarters was stolen by Quasimodo who used a replica of Iron Man abscond with the building. The Fantastic Four and the real Iron Man then tracked the headquarters to a remote location. While they failed to stop Quasimodo from using Reed's computer to restore his lost mobility and flee into space, they recovered the FF's stolen headquarters. Godzilla The Fantastic Four were later asked by the SHIELD Godzilla Squad to assist in the apprehension of the massive lizard known as Godzilla. At the time Godzilla had been shrunken down in size and was running amok in New York City. Reed and the others chased Godzilla into the Museum of Natural History. Incapacitating the monster, Reed had Godzilla taken to his lab where he used his Time-Platform to send the creature sideways in time to the distant past of Earth-78411 where the monster fought alongside Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur. Reed later calmed Ben down when he was throwing a tantrum after it was discovered a television show based on the Hulk was recently released. Eventually, Godzilla's radioactive body was causing disruptions with Reed's Time-Platform and he was forced to return Godzilla to the modern age. Moving the platform to Time's Square they were all prepared when Godzilla returned at his full size. As Godzilla went on a rampage through New York, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four joined forces with SHIELD and the Avengers in trying to contain the beast. Despite the efforts of the two teams of superheroes Godzilla's rampage was not stopped until the creature seemingly listened to the appeals of the Robert Takiguchi, a youth whose grandfather was a member of the Godzilla squad. Robert convinced Godzilla to return to the sea and much to everyone's surprise, the monster left New York without further incident. Elusive Cures Following these events, Reed and the rest of the team were amused by the pilot episode of the "Thing in the Family", a sitcom based on Ben's that was created after Ben petitioned some television producers to create a show about him. Not long after this, Reed and the family later put on a surprise party for Ben on his birthday. Later, Reed began examining the Thing and charted the course of his constant mutation over the years. After pointing out that when Ben was first transformed he had a dinosaur-like hide Reed explained that Ben eventually evolved into his current stone-like form. The current cure devised by Reed, unfortunately, could only work on Ben's earlier mutation. Seeking to cure himself Ben then attempted to change his destiny by going back in time to just after the Fantastic Four first gained their powers and administer the cure to himself. But when he returned to the present he found that nothing had changed. When talking to Reed about the experience Richards pointed out that in traveling into the past, Ben only succeeded in creating a divergent reality where the Thing was cured. Reed's assessment proved incorrect as later discovered in when he found evidence that Ben had actually visited the parallel reality of Earth-7940. Not long thereafter, Reed was stricken with the flu but it did not prevent him from providing Spider-Man with information that led to the rescue of scientist Daniel Ironwood from Russian operative Nikolai Kutzov, who was attempting to create an anti-matter bomb. Reed had fully recovered by the time he, the Torch and Thing had a brief encounter with Machine Man. Reed and the rest of the team later came to the aid of Willie Evans, Jr. a young boy whose mutant powers were flaring out of control. After stopping twisted versions of themselves created by Evans subconscious, Reed recommended that William's father take him to see Charles Xavier for help. Willie's father didn't follow this advice as seen in when Willie's powers grew out of control and he died battling Iron Man and X-Factor. Xandarian War While trying to find traces of Quasimodo in space, Reed connected with an Ion beam that transferred Xandarian queen Adora to Earth along with the mechanical Skrull-X. After incapacitating Skrull-X, the Fantastic Four learned that Adora's home world of Xandar was under invasion by the Skrulls. The Fantastic Four agreed to go, with the exception of Johnny, who wished to remain behind and try to go back to school. Reed, Sue and Ben were then transported to the planet Xandar where they assisted the Xandarian Nova Corps defend their world from the Skrull invaders. Meeting the Prime Thoran, Reed and the others discovered that the Skrulls were after the power of the Xandarian Worldmind computer. During the ensuing battle, the trio were captured by the Skrulls. Brought to Dorrek VII, the Fantastic Four were put on a mock trial and found guilty of their crimes against the Skrull empire. They were then sentenced to death. This execution came in the form of an aging ray that would cause them to rapidly age and eventually die of old age within 72 hours. The Fantastic Four managed to break free and escape in a Skrull ship and head back to Xandar. En route they were attacked by a ship carrying Earth's Nova, the Sphinx, Doctor Sun, Powerhouse, the Comet, and Crime-Buster. Mistaking the Fantastic Four for more Skrulls Nova blasted their ship. The group survived and were spotted by Nova in the void of space and brought aboard where introductions were made all around, although things were tense between the Fantastic Four and the Sphinx. Unseen by all during the conflict, Doctor Sun managed to slip away and was forgotten. The Fantastic Four and the heroes who eventually became known as the Champions of Xandar soon agreed to work together to stop the Skrulls. When they returned to Xandar they found that the Human Torch had come to Earth to join them. Things made a turn for the worse when the Sphinx managed to use the power of the Worldmind to achieve the power he so craved and left to conquer Earth. Search for Galactus Seeking to stop the Sphinx, Reed constructed a robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. with the assistance of the Worldmind computer. The robot was designed to assist them on their quest to find Galactus, the only person Reed believed to could defeat the Sphinx. Unknown to anyone at the time HERBIE's programming was tainted with the mind of Doctor Sun. Their search took them out into a graveyard of discarded alien ships where they were engaged in a brief battle with criminals of the Slig race before continuing on their journey. Even though Reed, Sue and Ben were getting older by the minute, they still continued on their mission. Along the way Reed explaining how Galactus survived their last encounter. When they found the Worldship of Galactus, they were beneath the notice until of the world devourer. In order to gain the attention of Galactus, the group caused enough of a disturbance warrant his action. Reed petitioned Galactus to help them stop the Sphinx. Galactus only agreed to help on two conditions: First, Reed had to relinquish Galactus from his vow to never threaten the Earth, and secondly, find him a new herald. With no other choice, Reed agreed to these terms and the Fantastic Four were soon teleported to collect the candidate that Galactus had selected. On the planet Birj they found the being in question, Tyros the Tamer, the tyrannical ruler of Birji. After a brief battle the Fantastic Four and Tyros were teleported back aboard the Worldship of Galactus. There Galactus transformed Tyros into his newest herald, Terrax, who could control earth. With his new herald in tow Galactus then took the Fantastic Four with him on a course back to Earth. With their time almost up the elderly members of the Fantastic Four returned to the Baxter Building to wait out the battle between Galactus and the Sphinx. When Sue collapsed and was about to die, Reed placed her in a cryogenic chamber in the hopes to preserve her long enough to find a cure for their condition. But before he could get to work on one the Fantastic Four were attacked by Terrax. The remaining members of the Fantastic Four were able to fight off Terrax, but not before Ben also had to be placed in cryogenic suspension. Reed and Johnny then went to Egypt where Galactus succeeded in defeating the Sphinx by stripping him of his Ka Stone and banishing him into the past. When Galactus then threatened to consume the Earth Reed bluffed him with a fake Ultimate Nullifier. Galactus left Earth, but warned Reed that he could come back and feed on their world at any time. After Galactus left Reed collapsed due to his advanced age. Although the Sphinx was banished into the past, he eventually found a way back to the present as seen in . Johnny frantically tried to find someone who could reverse the effects of the Skrull aging ray but found nobody who could. Salvation came when the Torch was attacked by the still active Skrull-X robot. During the fight, Johnny recovered the robot's aging ray before destroying the machine. He then revived Reed long enough to reverse the function. When Johnny activated the device it not only restored his three teammates but it also de-aged them to the prime of their lives and the peak of their powers. Evil HERBIE After defeating the Sandman during a bank robbery the Fantastic Four agreed to accompany Agatha Harkness on another trip to New Salem. There Reed and the others were captured by the restored Salem's Seven who took them to New York to be part of a spell to return Nicholas Scratch to the Earth dimension. With his powers slowly coming back Franklin combined his mutant abilities with Agatha's sorcery to defeat the Salem's Seven and free his family. After Reed took Sue for a dinner date, he returned to the Baxter Building where he analyzed strange energy readings that were, unknown to him, being sent out by the Dark Pheonix. Reed was later called to oversee an experimental new device created by his colleague Randolph James. When the device exploded Reed warned him against using it again. Later he was called back to the Baxter Building when somehow Blastaar was freed from the Negative Zone. Unaware that HERBIE was responsible the Fantastic Four fought Blastaar until he escaped. In the meantime, James was beaten by some local thugs and used his device to try and heal himself but ended up hyper-evolving himself into the self-described Futurist. Discovering this transformation, Reed tried to keep the Futurist under control but his enhanced powers and infant-like mentality the Futurist sped off and ended up being tricked into joining forces with Blastaar. When Blastaar tried to access the Negative Zone portal again he was banished back there and the portal sealed by Franklin whose powers were slowly returning. With the battle over the Futurist realized his place was not among the people of Earth and left for the stars to find his destiny among them. Sphinx War Reed was later pulled forward in time about seven years into the future by the a six-thousand-year-old version of the Sphinx who was gathering warriors in the Fault to do battle with his younger self. Reed found himself fighting alongside the future version of Nova, his ally Darkhawk, as well as past versions of Black Bolt and Namorita. Per the Sliding Timescale for ever four years of real time, one year of "Marvel" time passes. In this case Reed was pulled forward in time during publications that came out in the 1980s or "Year Five" of the modern age. The following Nova stories were published in 2010, or "year twelve" of Marvel time. 12 - 5 = 7 years had passed between the time Reed was plucked from history and when the Nova stories happened. As the group of heroes discovered the purpose of the Sphinx gathering them they were briefly tempted with the possibility of altering history so various tragedies could be avoided. They fought this temptation and were then brought before both versions of the Sphinx where they learned that both versions were evenly matched due to the power of their Ka Stones and that one sought to usurp the power from the other. In order to battle his older versions champions the younger Sphinx then summoned his own warriors. Reed found himself transported to the Asgardian realm of Vanaheim where he was forced to do battle against Ulysses Bloodstone. Reed and most of his allies were the victors of the contest. The elder Sphinx then enthralled Darkhawk and forced him to remove the Ka Stone from his younger self and turn it over to him. The Sphinx gained god-like power from the combined Ka Stones and was quickly gaining control of their power. When it was realized that two Ka Stones could not exist in the same moment the heroes realized that the Fault had negated the laws of the universe to allow this impossibility to happen. In order to defeat the Sphinx, Reed calculated the equation needed for Nova to open a stargate that pushed the Sphinx back out into the universe. With the laws of reality reapplied the Sphinx was seemingly destroyed. The time-displaced heroes, including Reed, were all returned to their proper times. When Reed returned to his own era he had no memory of what had happened. Changing Destiny Reed was enlisted to help Doctor Henry Croft and the other amphibians of Hydrobase regain their long lost humanity. His discoveries led him to believe that what mutated the Hydrobase amphibians was a derivative of the Inhumans Terrigen Mists and summoned Triton of the Inhumans for a sample. The Hydro-Men were transformed in During his research Reed took his time to give advice to Ben about his current relationship woes. Reed and the Fantastic Four later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in searching for their wayward leader Vance Astro and prevent him from interacting with his younger self. They were too late to stop Vance from awakening the latent mutant powers inherent in his younger self in the hopes of preventing his future where he ended up trapped in the 31st Century from coming to pass. The events leading to Vance Astro being stranded in the 30th Century were chronicled in When an absorber device created by Wakandan science was on the loose in New York City, Reed and Sue went out to try and recover it. By the time they had caught up with the device their old ally the Black Panther and his colleagues in the Defenders had already neutralized the threat. Later, when Ben asked if he could Alicia to move into the Baxter Building to live with him, Reed consented to the idea. After months of hiding incognito within the body of HERBIE the robot, Doctor Sun finally made his move, trying to take control of Reed's computers and eliminate the Fantastic Four. Reed and the others were all incapacitated by the Baxter Building's defenses. Ultimately, HERBIE's original programming overrode Doctor Sun's personality and instead of killing his creators, HERBIE sacrificed its artificial life to save them. Microverse Reed was soon approached by agents of SHIELD who wanted to know what he could tell them about the Microverse heroes known as the Micronauts. This coincided with an attack on the Baxter Building by the Psycho-Man who had come to recover a suit of armor that the Fantastic Four had in storage since they first defeated him. Reed then took Sue and Ben with him in their Reducto-Craft to follow after their foe. In order to try and determine how the Psycho-Man got to Earth, Reed sent Johnny to investigate HELL Laboratories to determine if the Prometheus Pit was still functional. The Fantastic Four managed to track down the Psycho-Man and joined sides with the Micronauts who were fighting him at the time. The battle turned when Johnny—using the Prometheus Pit to access the Microverse—arrived in that universe at a massive size. The Psycho-Man gained the upper hand defeating both teams and taking them prisoner, although they eventually broke free and defeated the Psycho-Man. With their foe vanquished the Fantastic Four returned to their native universe. Maelstrom Reed finally made a breakthrough in curing the amphibians of Hydrobase. Taking Dr. Croft to Attilan, Richards and a team of Inhuman scientists created an Anti-Terrigen Mist that could cure the amphibians. This discovery was sought by Maelstrom the son of an Inhuman exile who sent his minions to recover the Anti-Terrigen Mists as part of a revenge scheme against the Inhumans. Although most of these minions were captured, one escaped with the mists. When Reed tried to examine Maelstrom's minions his executioner Deathurge assassinated them. Later, Ben and the Inhumans recovered the Anti-Terrigen and Maelstrom was seemingly slain. Infiltration Not long thereafter, the Frightful Four attacked the Baxter Building again by having the Trapster pose as Spider-Man in order to infiltrate the building. The Fantastic Four were almost defeated thanks to the Frightful Four's newest edition, Electro but they managed to stop their foes with the aid of the real Spider-Man. Later, when Captain Barracuda stole the Horn of Proteus and used it to unleash an army of Atlantean beasts upon New York the Fantastic Four and Namor stopped his plan. When a worldwide power drain threatened the Earth, Reed investigated its source and traced it to the North Pole. The Fantastic Four went to investigate and they found a strange alien construct buried in the ice. After battling the crafts security systems, the Fantastic Four discovered members of the Flb'Dbi race. Learning that they meant no harm and only sought to escape Earth, the group helped them return to the stars without causing further harm. Mister Fantastic and his teammates later visited Daredevil while he was recovering in the hospital from injuries sustained in battle. Shogun Warriors The Fantastic Four later assisted the Shogun Warriors in stopping an attack on Earth by the alien invader known as Cymell, and later helped the Warriors in their last battle against their longtime foe Maur-Konn. With the holidays around the corner, the Fantastic Four were briefly confronted by a rebuilt Air-Walker, who came seeking the Silver Surfer. He was later destroyed by Thor. Reed and Sue later threw their regular Christmas party at the Baxter Building shortly thereafter. Reed and the rest of the team later briefly encountered the Silver Surfer who was hunting down the Hulk at the time. The Possession of Franklin Richards Reed and Sue continued to strive to give Franklin a normal life, but that all came apart when the boy was targeted by Nicholas Scratch who used his powers in conjunction with the Negative Zone portal to possess Franklin. After containing the child, the Fantastic Four got in touch with Agatha Harkness but failed to reach Doctor Strange for further assistance. Learning of their plight, Gabriel the Devil-Hunter sought out the Fantastic Four and offered his occult expertise to their cause. They all traveled to New Salem where they were attacked by a revitalized Salem's Seven who incapacitated the heroes and their allies and took them prisoner. Scratch then put on a mystic ceremony to free himself from his exile. During the ceremony, Gabriel used his abilities to force the Fantastic Four into the mind of their child, where the power of their love broke Scratch's hold over their son. Although Nicholas was returned to Earth he was stripped of his arcane powers. Strange Happenings When a strange red mist began traveling the world, causing their powers to malfunction, Reed and the rest of his team traced it back to a hidden society of vikings under the leadership of the near-immortal Harek Korgon who found himself dying after centuries of life. Korgon gave them an ultimatum: save his life or die. Reed succeeded and saved Korgon's life so that he could revitalize his people's hidden realm. But soon after Harek begged Reed to cure him of his condition and restore him to a normal human being. But one of Harek's followers sabotaged Reed's device causing Harek to go mad. The god-like being went on a rampage and was only stopped thanks to the intervention of both Odin and his son Thor. Thor convinced Harek to embrace his god-like stature. With the danger over, the Fantastic Four returned home. Shortly thereafter Reed and the Fantastic Four assisted Spider-Man in taking down the criminal operations Nguyen Ngoc Coy who was using his twin mutant niece and nephew Xi'an and Tran as part of his criminal enterprises. Reed and the others later helped the Shogun Warriors one last time when their giant robots were destroyed by William McLaughlin and his Samurai Destroyer robot. Although the Warrior's robots were damaged beyond repair during the battle, McLaughlin's robot was taken down in Japan and William was taken into custody. The group next took a vacation to Lost Lake, Pennsylvania. There they encountered an alien breed of Brain Parasites who used their hosts to consume fossil fuels. Reed and Sue were disturbed when Franklin used his powers to defend his family from animals possessed by the brain parasites, as he slew the hosts in the process. Although Sue was briefly possessed herself, Reed managed to cure her and the Brain Parasites were seemingly destroyed before they could reproduce and spread. Ego-Spawn Reed later scrambled to try and find a cure when everyone on Earth was stricken by the Leader's "Green Plague". But ultimately a cure was found by Bruce Banner. Reed, Sue and Johnny were later incapacitated and kept in death-like state by the Stranger as part of a plot to stop Olympian death god Pluto. The Thing and the Hulk were forced to work together so stop Pluto in order for the Stranger to restore their allies. Reed later sent Johnny to southern Virginia to obtain a gyroscope device from Dr. Taylor Linnik. This led to a clash with the Hulk and the Wizard. Concerned over Franklin's growing powers and his lack of control, Reed and Sue took the boy to Seaside University in Massachusetts where he could be tested by Reed's colleague Abe Jankovitz. During the experiment, Franklin's powers left his body and possessed the body of Franco Berardi, a local bully, turning him into the powerful Ego-Spawn. While Reed and the others went out to try and contain Ego-Spawn, Sue was left to try and reach the machines keeping Franklin's mind disassociated with his body. When Sue finally got past Franklin's subconscious defenses and shut down the machine Franklin's powers were returned to his body. After spending some time with his family, Reed helped restore Spider-Man's spider-sense to him after it was accidentally transferred to Namor during a battle with the Frightful Four. Not long after that, Reed began conducting new strength experiments with Ben. Ebon Seeker Soon the Earth was threatened by an anti-matter being called the Ebon Seeker whose very composition threatened to destroy the planet Earth. Because the Seeker was drawn to Earth thanks to a probe made by Reed, the Fantastic Four were obligated to stop him. During their initial battle they were trapped in a pocket of darkness but were freed by Firefrost, the Ebon Seeker's former lover. She explained that she and the Ebon Seeker were from a distant future and were turned into their current states and brought into the past by a freak accident involving a black hole. Firefrost provided Reed with the solution he needed to defeat the Seeker. While the rest of the team battle against the Ebon Seeker, Reed and Sue worked in his lab on the solution. They created a device that wrapped the entire block around the Baxter Building with a protective barrier and then shunted it into the Negative Zone. There the Ebon Seeker's sanity was restored and he and Firefrost ventured off to find a new life within the Zone. While the danger was over, Reed quickly discovered that they were now trapped. Stygorr Seeking to get home Reed piloted the block of New York City toward the distortion field between the Negative Zone and Earth. They had opposition from two sources: Lew Shiner, a construction boss who distrusted the Fantastic Four, and Stygorr a Negative Zone warlord seeking to destroy all the invaders within his domain. Needing a matter/anti-matter explosion to propel them safely through the Distortion Field, Reed detonated part of the city block causing the apparent demise of Shiner and Stygorr in the process. Reed's gambit worked and the entire block was returned to New York City. Reed later met the mutant singer known as Dazzler and tested the limits of her powers. Reed later send Johnny out to rescue the singer when she was later captured by Doctor Doom. By the time Johnny found her, Dazzler had already defeated Doom by herself. Later when Ben was involved in a new flight test his ship crashed in the Florida Everglades. Reed and the others rescued him from the swamps after a brief encounter with the Man-Thing. When Vera Cantor, former girlfriend of the Avengers' Beast, was poisoned by a Skrull the Avengers took her to Reed Richards who believed that he could eventually cure her. Reed was present for Ben's latest issue with entertainment after Hollywood began producing a new show titled "Monster Man" which featured characters that slightly resembled him. The Thing later exposed it as a front for the alien known as Xemnu halting the production. Back to Basics The Fantastic Four began easing into a routine life when they were once again targeted by Diablo who unleashed Elementals to fight them. Reed quickly deduced if they switched the Elementals they were attacked by they could defeat them. Then with the help of Doctor Strange, Reed was able to track down and capture Diablo before he could flee the country. When Reed and the others were bringing Diablo to the authorities they were shocked when their foe suddenly disappeared, unaware that Doctor Strange had decided an alternate form of punishment for their foe. Reed and Sue later went after the Thing to calm him down after the Torch played his usual set of pranks. After Alicia had moved into the Baxter Building, Reed and Sue helped her repair her smashed sculptures that were shattered from the force of one of Ben's training sessions. Reed and Sue later went out for a walk when they came to the aid of a young girl trapped on the upper floor of a building set to be demolished. They were unknowingly assisted by Skip Collins, a mutant with reality altering powers that even he had no awareness of. Soon after the Earth was rattled by a massive earthquake caused by the gravity of an approaching celestial body. Reed quickly mobilized the team to face the threat. This menace turned out to be Ego the Living Planet who was seeking revenge against Galactus for banishing him to the deepest regions of space. The group worked together to force Ego into the Earth's sun seemingly destroying the menace before it could reach Earth. Although seemingly destroyed here, Ego survives and resurfaces in =Further Reading= * Mister Fantastic: Year Six * Return to Expanded History Main Page =Continuity Notes= =References=